by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

While calling Thursday night's Oregon-Washington game at the Pac-12 tournament, the ESPN analyst made a bizarre reference to the past troubles of new network employee Ray Lewis, then later dropped a line about the suspension of ESPN online columnist Bill Simmons. He also made a joke about the wife of play-by-play man Dave Pasch and uttered lines like "riding quasars all the way to the top of the mountain and the promised land," which sounds like a lyric from a Grateful Dead song.

The most troubling reference was Walton's comment about Ray Lewis and a limo. In 2000, the Baltimore Ravens linebacker fled a crime scene in a limo and told its 10 passengers to "keep their mouths shut." He was later charged with double murder.

During a taped bit showing Pac-12 cheerleaders getting out of a limo, Walton brought up Lewis without warning:

[Mascots and cheerleaders emerge from a limo.]

Pasch: I think Walton is somewhere in the middle of that thing.

Walton: I was way in the back along with Ray Lewis and it was unbelievable how much fun -- oh my gosh -- how many people were in there?

Pasch: I think we'll just dismiss the Ray Lewis comment.

[The Oregon Duck mascot falls on the ground and is picked up by cheerleaders.]

Walton: Oh, what happened to the Ducks? Rescued.

Pasch: He just got back from a [Grateful] Dead show.

As Walton says the Lewis line, you can hear Pasch in the background saying "whoa." That sums it up perfectly. Beyond tweaking a fellow network employee, Walton made light of a double murder. it was a cringe-worthy line.

If he hadn't been so incoherent the rest of the night, you could have made the argument that this was some sort of civil disobedience. Perhaps he was protesting ESPN's Ray Lewis hire because of those murders. But things stayed weird all night, so shelve that theory.

Give credit to Pasch for quickly changing the subject and that witty Dead reference. He'd have to play traffic cop all night.

Later, Walton started talking about Southwest Airlines. When he was playfully admonished by Pasch for promoting an airline, he made another ESPN reference.

Walton: San Diego is my hometown. All the airports, just everybody flying Southwest Airlines. Southwest is the best of the best. Getting everybody here. Electric atmosphere, everywhere, every aspect. We are so fortunate.

Pasch: There are some other great airlines you might want to mention so you don't get in trouble.

[Pasch describes game action for 15 seconds. He stops.]

Walton: If we're going to suspend Bill Simmons, anything is possible.

Pasch: Again, we'll just dismiss that and get back to the game.

Awful Announcing has a list of other crazy Walton lines, including him telling Pasch that "your wife's been calling me" after Pasch made reference to how much he's aged during the broadcast.

All of that and he didn't take one swipe at First Take. Opportunity missed, Bill.